The gaming blog that moonshine built

Housekeeping

As usual I had a silly idea one day and decided to put it into action and see what happened. I wanted to do something in the spirit of Blaugust this year, but without the stress of having to come up with a complete, coherent post every day. I also wanted to get back into some of my creative hobbies that I’ve dabbled in over the years. Thus Daily Creative Thing was born.

The idea is very simple. Do something creative every day, and stay positive. The part that makes it work is that the bar for “do something creative” is set intentionally low. Did you doodle something cute on a post-it at work today? That counts. Did you sing in the shower for 15 minutes straight and annoy your roommate? That counts. Did you add a row or two of stitches to a bigger project? That counts. This endeavor is about recognizing all the little creative things we do, in addition to encouraging spending a bit more dedicated time on whole projects. The creative thing doesn’t have to be completed, finishing a whole project every day would be exhausting, and wouldn’t leave room for things like writing a story or knitting a blanket. It also doesn’t matter what kind of creative thing you do, as long as you consider it creative. Drawing some fan art, writing a blog post, baking a cake… you get the idea. It all counts!

The other key here is the “and stay positive” bit. It’s okay to be critical of your own work sometimes. That’s how we improve. But when sharing things for this project, I’m taking the stance of “if you can’t say anything nice, don’t say anything at all”. Especially when posting half-finished things, the temptation is to apologize for it. Instead I want to celebrate that I made an effort and made something new in the world, and look for the things I like about it so I can keep doing those next time around. The internet is full of places where people tear themselves and each other down. I want this project to be focused on building things up. Stay positive.

That’s all there is to it. Keeping it simple means there’s at least a chance that I’ll follow through on it but making it daily means it is still a challenge and a change for the better in my habits.

If you’ve made it this far, I hope you’ll join me on this journey. I would love to have a network of people sharing their progress and cheering each other on. I also selfishly just want to see all the amazing things that you all will create when you get in the habit. Try it for the month of Blaugust and see if it sticks. Let’s create some things!

Just so we’re straight, the “Moonshine” in this blog’s title is most definitely about the beautiful moonlight shining down on my Protostar housing plot, and not the delicious homemade grain alcohol distilling in the shed around back. Ayup. 😉

Totally not a Moonshine Still

About this blog:

I’m Gracie and with a new-found love of Wildstar I’ll be sharing my experiences in Nexus with any and all passers-by. As of this writing, just following the final closed-beta weekend of Wildstar, I’m likely to be a Mordesh Spellslinger Explorer. In other MMOs I tend to heal butts, but so far I am really enjoying DPS so we shall see what role I end up with at launch. Prepare yourself for stories of questing, dungeons, pugs, and maybe even a little PvP.

Frankly none of that matters, though, since quests and battles are just a vehicle for making more gold to feed the true motivation for playing: Housing. The player housing in Wildstar hits a lot of notes exactly right for me, and I want to share my enthusiasm with the world!

More about me:

I have been immersed in nerd culture since I was a zygote (thanks mom!) and a gamer since the Atari days. I’ve been a MMO player since back in 2007 when I got high-speed internet, just after the release of World of Warcraft’s Burning Crusade expansion. Over the years I’ve dabbled in quite a few MMOs but only got heavily invested in the endgame in WoW and SW:TOR (and now hopefully Wildstar!). I am likely to bring my experiences in these other games into my discussions.

IRL: I am a graduate student trying desperately to learn more about our planet’s oceans and then share what I learn. I may have semi-professional opinions or speculations about the wildlife on Nexus 😉

Keep your eyes on this space for some Housing 101 posts in the weeks leading up to the Wildstar launch!

Caution! Newbie Blogger at Work!
I want to give a shout-out to the folks at the Newbie Blogger Initiative and a big thanks for all the work that goes into it. The resources and encouragement are a big part of why I decided to take the plunge. Thanks!